This small pilot study followed 30 women with ADHD who were taking amphetamine salts. They were aged 18 to 40, had regular cycles, and used no hormonal birth control or other psychiatric medicine. Each reported her own ADHD diagnosis. For 35 days, the women filled in short online surveys about their ADHD symptoms, mood and daily dose.
ADHD symptoms were worse during menstruation (cycle days 1 to 5) than in the days just after it (days 6 to 10), a gap unlikely to be down to chance. Symptoms in the late luteal phase, just before a period, were not clearly different. Low mood was higher both before and during menstruation. Women whose mood shifted more also tended to have bigger shifts in ADHD symptoms. Once mood was taken into account, the cycle no longer explained the change in ADHD symptoms. Daily doses did not differ across the cycle.
The authors call the results preliminary. The sample was small, the surveys were self-reported, and hormone levels were not measured, so cycle phases were estimated. Another 16 eligible women were left out for completing too few surveys.
The authors suggest that, if larger studies confirm the pattern, women like these and their doctors might plan lighter schedules before and during menstruation and weigh options such as cycle-based dose changes, each needing more study.
Talk to a clinician about your own situation.
The numbers Stats and what the terms mean
The statistics behind the plain-language claims above.
- Zaritsky, 2025: effect of cycle phase on daily ADHD symptom scores, p = .023.
- Zaritsky, 2025: ADHD symptoms during menstruation versus the days just after it (mid-follicular phase), p = .020.
- Zaritsky, 2025: ADHD symptoms in the late luteal versus mid-follicular phase, p = .11.
- Zaritsky, 2025: negative mood during menstruation and the late luteal phase versus the mid-follicular phase, p = .0066 and .035.
- Zaritsky, 2025: link between mood change and ADHD symptom change, p = .00050; R2 = .42.
- Zaritsky, 2025: phase effect on ADHD symptoms after controlling for mood, p = .88.
- Zaritsky, 2025: daily amphetamine salts dose across the cycle, p = .51.
- Zaritsky, 2025: power to detect differences in ADHD symptoms between phases, 71.9%.
What the terms mean:
- p A number from a statistical test that shows how unusual a result would be if there were really no effect. Here, a small value means a difference between cycle phases was unlikely to be down to chance.
- R2 The share of the variation in one measure that lines up with another. Here, it shows how much of the change in ADHD symptoms tracked the change in mood.
- Power The chance a study had of detecting a real difference, if one existed. The authors note theirs was low.
Source: Zaritsky R, Reed S, Evans S. Changes in ADHD Symptoms and Mood Across the Menstrual Cycle in Females Treated With Stimulants: A Pilot Study. Journal of Attention Disorders (2025). doi:10.1177/10870547251400038